Five time NBA champion Kobe Bryant announced his retirement from the NBA late Sunday night.
In an open letter to the fans published on the Players’ Tribune, Bryant wrote that the 2015-2016 season — his twentieth in the league — would be “all [he] has left to give.”
Dear Basketball,
From the moment
I started rolling my dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:
I fell in love with you …
You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream
And I’ll always love you for it.
But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.
Play on, playa.
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